NetEase's New Action RPG 'Where Winds Meet' Has Promise, But Lacks Polish

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Where Winds Meet was provided by NetEase Games. Thank you!

Where Winds Meet is a brand new Free-To-Play Action RPG from the teams at Everstone Studio and NetEase Games, which can be played solo or with a group of friends in co-op, as well as additional multiplayer options, and we were able to get the chance to play the game before launch to try it for ourselves.

Sadly, I wasn't able to get the game running on the Steam Deck in the preview time I had, with the game refusing to connect to update servers on the device. We'll revisit the game post-launch to see if we can get it working on Deck.

Where Winds Meet - Gameplay Impressions

Where Winds Meet starts with a frankly rather janky prologue sequence, it's filled with QTEs, some on-the-rails horseback riding, which does not feel very natural, followed by a basic combat tutorial, where things finally start to look up. In fact, it feels like an entirely different game.

Fortunately, the combat tutorial was a sign of things to come, and once you finally get to the character creation and get into the game world proper, Where Winds Meet ends up being a fairly enjoyable Action RPG.

That's not to say things are perfect, but I did enjoy my time with Where Winds Meet. The world is beautiful and well-presented; the storyline is intriguing, and the combat is fun and cinematic, although it leans more towards "button-mashing" than something like a Souls-like, despite similarities with those games, such as timed dodging/parrying mechanics.

The game feels heavily inspired by the MMORPG genre, with the game even asking if you want to use an MMORPG-style control scheme when you first play, or stick with more traditional ARPG controls. I wouldn't be surprised if the game was originally meant to be an MMORPG before being scaled back.

This inspiration carries over into the game's design, with the game world populated by various NPCs scattered throughout, many of which offer side quests. The game is really heavy on questing, and it's pretty much the sole way you'll be progressing. That's not to say it's a bad thing, but go into this game with the mindset that every 30 metres you walk, an NPC at the side of the road will be asking you to do a quest for them.

The progression in the game relies on various systems, which can be a bit overwhelming at first. Not only do you have your equipment, which can be both upgraded and replaced, you also have your "talents", which is essentially a fairly linear skill tree you'll work along as you level up, as well as other skills and abilities you can unlock and upgrade.

I didn't feel much progression in the game. From my perspective, you always feel pretty powerful, and battles on the "Recommended" difficulty setting didn't really pose much of a challenge; perhaps the progression is felt more on the higher difficulty settings.

The English translation of the game is a little disappointing. Voice lines aren't lip-synced at all; some even repeat themselves or don't play, with the lines seemingly not being translated. The quality of the voice acting is also subpar, and what the characters say can vary significantly from what the subtitles convey, leading to misinterpretation depending on which one you focus on. We have been assured by the developers that these issues are a priority, however.

Some graphical details are also a little disappointing, such as the visual effect of burning vines with a fire arrow, which appears to run at 5 FPS —a notable contrast to the rest of the game, which boasts high-quality visuals. Some characters' faces also seem much less detailed than the player character's, for example.

Where Winds Meet has promise, if you play on the higher difficulty for a bit more of a challenge, and if the English translation can be cleared up, so we can get more immersed in the intriguing story, I could definitely see myself hopping in from time to time for a bit of over-the-top martial arts action.

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